Gliederung

Ophthalmic surgery has made great strides in both the anterior and posterior segments in recent years. The development of increasingly finer instrumentation, technically more sophisticated machinery and more complex operative procedures has rendered the training of ophthalmic surgeons progressively more difficult. Young colleagues seeking a surgical career are facing seemingly insurmountable challenges and hurdles. Training for ophthalmic surgery, when and wherever it occurs, is largely uncontrolled and dependent on the didactic abilities of a teacher who was never trained for the task at hand. Real patients are used for practice, and those are carrying all attendant risks of an inadequate or even poor training process.

This is entirely different in commercial aviation, which in respect to risk management and responsibilities involved shows many parallels to our field of work. Here nobody would entertain the idea of "practicing" with passengers or engaging a teacher who never had to demonstrate his teaching abilities. Economic considerations and competition have over the decades led to the development of a training system that has made aviation the safest transport system of all times. Along all stations of their training from a simple pilots license to airline pilot standardized steps are progressively taken with trained and certified teachers. The quality of training is constantly verified with tests and exams.

The use of simulators is an integral element of this process. For decades systems have been in use, which mimic reality so perfectly that the training process can be completed virtually without involving real flights. Modern technology allows the development of such systems for ophthalmic surgery as well. Due to a lack of demand and public funds these systems unfortunately are still at the beginning of their development, but are already showing amazing functionality.

In future such simulators should be at the center of a modern surgical training process. They are not only meant to convey manual skills but they are furthermore capable of simulating phako and vitrectomy machines, their functions and operations. They can thereby, just as in aviation, shift major elements of the teaching process from the operating theater into the classroom. In addition they are capable of objectively measuring and documenting a student's "performance". It must be our mission to demand and foster the development of such systems in the interest of modern and adequate patient care.